button to main menu  Dr Syntax in Search of the Picturesque, plate 19
button NOTES from DR SYNTAX'S TOUR, 1812
Plate 19 opposite p.140:-

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DOCTOR SYNTAX SELLS GRIZZLE.
to win a bet on the value of his aged war scarred nag. An onlooker is told:-

...
"A Parson, Sir," says one, "distress'd,
"Wants to sell that poor wretched beast;
"And asks, I hear, a pound, or two:
"I think he'll ne'er get that from you."
"If that's the case," the Yeoman said,-
"I'll ease his heart, and buy the jade,
"I'll bid two pounds, my friend, that's plain,
"And give him back his beast again."

The Farmer own'd the wager lost,
And ope'd his bag to pay the cost.
"No, Sir," says Syntax, "'tis to you
"To pay where'er you think its due:
"But, as we pass'd the Common o'er,
"I saw, beside a cottage door,
"A woman, with a spinning-wheel,
"Who turn'd her thread around the reel,
"While joyful frolick'd by her side
"Three children, all in Nature's pride;
"And I resign unto your care
"To leave the welcome bounty there."
...
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